Because historians should be addressing the issue of race and ethnicity in the ancient Roman world, let me put in my two cents. #Rome 1/10
The Roman world was #diverse. Full stop. Let’s start there. Anybody could become a Roman citizen. 2/10
Let me be explicit here in case it is questioned: Romans included peoples from Africa and Asia as well as Europe. 3/10
Romans did not all look the same, and they didn’t care about that fact. Physical features were a matter of curiosity, not prejudice. 4/10
And of course the Roman world was also full of visitors, merchants, and immigrants who may not have chosen to become citizens at all. 5/10
Romans did label foreigners whom they considered uncivilized to be barbarians, but this was not a permanent status. 6/10
A #barbarian could become more civilized and could even become a Roman citizen. 7/10
In short, Roman society was not some proto white supremacist paradise, nor a solely European civilization. 8/10
The Roman world was created by immigration and assimilation of diverse peoples, and worked precisely because of that. 9/10
I am proud to be addressing these issues directly in my Barbarians class this semester. #history 10/10
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